Meet A Judge

About

The Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project brings a new critical methodology to bear on Irish and Northern Irish legal studies. A collective of academics and practitioners has come together to write the “missing feminist judgments” in appellate cases which have shaped Irish and Northern Irish law. (Click here for details of those involved and here for details of the cases to be rewritten).

Feminist judging provides a means of re-imagining the role of the judge. It requires us to adhere to the rules of precedent and custom which typically bind judges, while demonstrating that it is possible to decide even very difficult cases in ways which take proper account of feminist concerns. For example, a feminist judgment, in reciting the facts of the case, might provide more detail on a woman litigant’s experience. It might take judicial notice of feminist “common knowledge”. Or it might aim to give legal meaning to feminist conceptions of equality, autonomy or selfhood. (Click here for further discussion of the principles of feminist judging and their significance for Irish and Northern Irish legal studies.)

Our project follows the example of others in Canada, England and Australia, while modifying the methodology to take account of peculiarly Irish and Northern Irish aspirations and challenges. In particular, the Project will provide a forum for new work which considers how themes of gender and collective identity have cross-cut women’s experience before the law of both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland.

Beginning in 2014, we held a series of events, to support and publicise the work of the Project. We held four ‘Drafting Workshops’ at which our Judges presented versions of their “missing judgments” for discussion and feedback. To accompany the Workshops, we curated a series of interdisciplinary panels, which facilitated broader reflection on aspects of gender, identity and the law in Ireland and Northern Ireland. (Click here for further details).

We expect that our book will be an important resource for teachers and students of law, practitioners and activists for many years to come.